Breakout of participants in a conference call

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for creating and managing a breakout conference for a primary conference are disclosed. The system monitors communications between participants of a primary conference to determine if a) participants have a disagreement that needs to be resolved or b) if a topic from the meeting agenda requires additional time for discussion. Participant language, including negations and repetitive word usage, job profiles, body language, overlapping voice signals, among other factors, are monitored to determine if a disagreement exists. If a disagreement exists or additional time is required, the system automatically creates a virtual breakout session, determines the topic that created the disagreement, determines participants associated with the disagreed topic, and moves them to the breakout session. The system also provides meeting tools such that participants in the primary conference may communicate and alert participants in the breakout session, and vice versa, without leaving their respective sessions.

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to creating and managing abreakout conference for a primary conference. They also relate tomonitoring communications between participants of the primary conferenceto determine if a) participants have a disagreement that relates to atopic of the meeting or b) if a topic from the meeting agenda requiresadditional time for discussion, and if so, automatically creating abreakout conference and moving participants associated with a topic ofthe disagreement from the primary conference to the breakout conference.

BACKGROUND

Conference calls are frequently used by individuals, groups,associations, and employees of various organizations. They are thebackbone of a collaborative workplace, and when properly used, increaseproductivity and efficiency by allowing individuals to discuss varioustopics and develop solutions for moving forward in their respectiveroles and projects. They are especially useful when the collaborationoccurs among people who are geographically separated from one anotherand between employees that work remotely thereby alleviating orminimizing the need to meet physically for discussing a topic that canbe discussed over a conference call. In more recent times, there hasbeen an explosion of conference call activity, especially during the2019-2021 years of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which a mass number ofindividuals worked remotely and had the need to connect with theircolleagues over a conference call to accomplish their job duties.

Although conference calls can be a useful mechanism to discuss variousissues, unfortunately, there exist several issues with currentconferencing methods that result in unproductive meetings, or in someinstances, a waste of time. Since conference calling has become moreeasy and common through a variety of online conferencing options, suchas Zoom, Google Meet™, and Microsoft Teams™ individuals are spendingmore time than ever before on conference calls. (Google Meet is atrademark owned by Google LLC and Microsoft Teams is a trademark ownedby Microsoft Corporation).

Some reasons for unproductive conferences include lack of preparationamong participants and poorly defined objectives. Among the manyreasons, one of the common reasons for an unproductive conferenceinclude a disagreement/conflict between participants that derails themeeting and requires all other participants to halt discussion of theirmeeting topic until the disagreement is resolved. In some instances, thedisagreement persists throughout the conference and takes up much neededtime that was allocated for other topics on the meeting agenda to bediscussed thereby resulting in the other topics not being discussed orbeing pushed to a subsequently scheduled meeting and delaying progress.

As such, there is a need for a better conferencing system and method toincrease productivity during conference calls, especially when adisagreement occurs between its participants.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various objects and advantages of the disclosure will be apparentupon consideration of the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary system for creating andmanaging a primary and breakout conference, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of an exemplary conference calling system, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conference device, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is block diagram for an exemplary primary conference call, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is block diagram for an exemplary breakout conference, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is flowchart of a process for generating a breakout conferencefor a primary conference, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure;

FIG. 6 is block diagram of categories for determining a disagreement, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7A is flowchart of a process for determining a disagreement betweenparticipants in the primary conference, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 7B is depicts an exemplary process of applying natural languageprocessing and artificial intelligence to determine a disagreement andthe context of the disagreement based on a voice input, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 8A is a block diagram of a plurality of participants in a primaryconference and their voice signals, in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 8B is a table of voice signal received over a time period, inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a table of conflict score that represents a sentiment of theparticipants in the primary conference, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 is block diagram for a primary and multiple breakout conferencesessions, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 11 is an exemplary template of management and communication toolsoffered for selection to participants of either the breakout rooms orthe primary conference, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with some embodiments disclosed herein, theabove-mentioned limitations are overcome by automatically creating abreakout conference for the primary virtual conference for topics thatresult in a disagreement or topics that require additional discussion.The system allocates a time for the virtual breakout conference suchthat issues relating to the disagreement may be resolved within theallotted time. Participants involved in the disagreement, andparticipants that are associated with the topic of disagreement, areautomatically selected by the system and moved to the virtual breakoutconference either automatically or upon acceptance of a selectableoption to move.

In some embodiments, the method includes creating a primary conferenceand allowing a plurality of participants to join the primary conference.The primary conference, also referred to herein as main conference, mainsession, virtual conference, conference call, is a virtual conferencecalling session that may provide audio and/or video capabilities to itsparticipants. The system obtains an agenda for the primary conferenceprior to its start time. The system uses the agenda to determine thetopics to be covered in the primary conference and the amount of timeallocated for each topic. In instances when an agenda is not available,or the topics for the agenda and allocated times are not available, thenthe system determines if historical data is available for a previousconference in which the same participants as the current primaryconference attended the meeting. If so, to the extent discernable fromthe prior conference, the system uses an artificial intelligencealgorithm to allocate amounts of time for each topic to be covered basedon information gathered from the prior conference.

During the primary conference, the system monitors all conversationsbetween participants. The conversations are converted to text using anatural language processing algorithm. The system determines ifspeech/statement made by a participant relates to a topic included inthe meeting agenda. If so, the system associates the speech with a topicin the agenda and determines the context of the statement made. Asreferred to here, speech, voice signal, voice input, statement, anddialog refer to speech made by a participant during the conference.

The system then monitors all subsequent statements made during theprimary conference to determine if any subsequent statements made byother participants also relate to the same topic. If the systemdetermines that the subsequent statements made by another participantrelates to the same topic, then the system determines if the subsequentstatement contextually conflicts or disagrees with the earlierstatement. If so, the system determines that the participants that madethe statements may have a disagreement with respect to the topic and aseparate virtual breakout conference may be needed to resolve thedisagreement such that the primary conference can continue withdisruption due to the disagreement and other topics on the agenda can becovered. As referred to herein, conflict, disagreement, frustration,opposing view, are used interchangeably and refer to a participantdisagrees with a statement made by another participant.

Since one conflicting statement may not rise to the level of adisagreement, in some embodiments, the system concludes that adisagreement exists only after a threshold number of disagreeingstatements are made by the other participants. For example, in someinstances a participant may make a suggestion, which sounds like adisagreement, such as “you should also look into XYZ,” and theparticipant is not persistently disagreeing. To avoid rushing into abreakout session without a disagreement, in some embodiments, the systemmay look for repeated disagreements to ensure that the disagreementwarrants a separate breakout conference for resolution.

In other embodiments, the system uses various factors for determining ifa disagreement exists. These factors include, determining if otherparticipants' raise their voice at a high decibel levels, if the otherparticipants' speech overlaps the participant speech who made theoriginal statement, if the other participants' facial expressions, bodylanguage, tone, or behavior suggests a disagreement or frustration withthe original statement, or if the job function of the other participantis such that their position is likely at odds with the job role andposition of the participant who made the original statement and islikely to have a disagreement, and determination if the participants hada disagreement in previous meetings.

In other embodiments, a conflict score may be calculated. In thisembodiment the system tracks the sentiment of the participants as thediscussion in the primary conference progresses. If the sentimentreaches a negative conflict score that meets the negative sentimentthreshold, then the system determines that a disagreement exists.Additional factors are described further in the application that may beused by the system to determine whether a disagreement exists.

Once a determination is made that a disagreement exists, the systemautomatically sets up a breakout conference that can be used by theparticipants that had the disagreement. The system seamlessly moves theparticipants involved in the disagreement, and any other participantsthat are associated with the topic of the disagreement, to the breakoutconference. The move may be performed automatically or after theparticipants agree to the move.

As part of the move to the breakout conference, in some embodiments, thesystem accesses a human resources database to extract the profiles ofeach participant, their titles in the company, and their job roles. Thesystem uses the profile information to designate a leader for thebreakout conference (also referred to herein as breakout room, breakoutsession, secondary conference, and virtual breakout conference). Forexample, the system may select the participant with the senior mosttitle or the participant that has ownership of the topic based on theirjob duties as the leader of the breakout conference.

While in the breakout conference, in some embodiments, the systemprovides communication and management tools to the participants of thebreakout conference. The communication and management tools allow theparticipants to track progress of the primary conference without havingto leave their breakout conference. The tools also allow theparticipants in the breakout conference to communicate with theparticipants in the primary conference, such as, to answer any questionsthat relate to a participant in the breakout conference or to the topicof discussion, and to provide a summary of their progress to theparticipants in the primary conference, without having to leave thebreakout session.

Once the time allocated for the breakout conference ends, theparticipants in the breakout session are seamlessly and automaticallyintegrated back into the primary conference without the participantshaving to execute any commands for moving back to the primaryconference. By providing the breakout conference capability, and theability to communicate between sessions, the system allows the primaryconference to progress productively without a delay that may have beencaused due to the disagreement.

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 2 describe exemplary devices, systems, servers, andrelated hardware for creating and managing main/primary conference andvirtual breakout conference sessions in accordance with some embodimentsof the disclosure.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary system for creating andmanaging a primary and breakout conference, in accordance with someembodiments of the disclosure. In FIG. 1A, an audio/video conferencingsystem is configured as an audio/video conferencing system 100, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. In an embodiment,one or more parts of or the entirety of system 100 may be configured asa system implementing various features, processes, and components ofFIGS. 1-10 . Although FIG. 1A shows a certain number of components, invarious examples, system 100 may include fewer than the illustratednumber of components and/or multiples of one or more of the illustratednumber of components.

System 100 is shown to include a computing device 118, a server 102 anda communication network 114. It is understood that while a singleinstance of a component may be shown and described relative to FIG. 1A,additional instances of the component may be employed. For example,server 102 may include, or may be incorporated in, more than one server.Similarly, communication network 114 may include, or may be incorporatedin, more than one communication network. Server 102 is showncommunicatively coupled to computing device 118 through communicationnetwork 114. While not shown in FIG. 1A, server 102 may be directlycommunicatively coupled to computing device 118, for example, in asystem absent or bypassing communication network 114.

Communication network 114 may comprise one or more network systems, suchas, without limitation, an Internet, LAN, WIFI or other network systemssuitable for audio processing applications. In some embodiments, system100 excludes server 102, and functionality that would otherwise beimplemented by server 102 is instead implemented by other components ofsystem 100, such as one or more components of communication network 114.In still other embodiments, server 102 works in conjunction with one ormore components of communication network 114 to implement certainfunctionality described herein in a distributed or cooperative manner.Similarly, in some embodiments, system 100 excludes computing device118, and functionality that would otherwise be implemented by computingdevice 118 is instead implemented by other components of system 100,such as one or more components of communication network 114 or server102 or a combination. In still other embodiments, computing device 118works in conjunction with one or more components of communicationnetwork 114 or server 102 to implement certain functionality describedherein in a distributed or cooperative manner.

Computing device 118 includes control circuitry 128, display 134 andinput circuitry 116. Control circuitry 128 in turn includes transceivercircuitry 162, storage 138 and processing circuitry 140. In someembodiments, computing device 118 or control circuitry 128 may beconfigured as media device 200 of FIG. 2 .

Server 102 includes control circuitry 120 and storage 124. Each ofstorages 124 and 138 may be an electronic storage device. As referred toherein, the phrase “electronic storage device” or “storage device”should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data,computer software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-onlymemory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders,compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3Ddisc recorders, digital video recorders (DVRs, sometimes called personalvideo recorders, or PVRs), solid state devices, quantum storage devices,gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removablestorage devices, and/or any combination of the same. Each storage 124,138 may be used to store various types of content, metadata, and orother types of data (e.g., they can be used to record audio questionsasked by one or more participants connected to the conference.Non-volatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routineand other instructions). Cloud-based storage may be used to supplementstorages 124, 138 or instead of storages 124, 138. In some embodiments,the audio portion of the conference may be recorded and stored in one ormore of storages 112, 138.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 120 and/or 128 executesinstructions for an application stored in memory (e.g., storage 124and/or storage 138). Specifically, control circuitry 120 and/or 128 maybe instructed by the application to perform the functions discussedherein. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 120 and/or 128 may be based on instructions received from theapplication. For example, the application may be implemented as softwareor a set of executable instructions that may be stored in storage 124and/or 138 and executed by control circuitry 120 and/or 128. In someembodiments, the application may be a client/server application whereonly a client application resides on computing device 118, and a serverapplication resides on server 102.

The application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. Forexample, it may be a stand-alone application wholly implemented oncomputing device 118. In such an approach, instructions for theapplication are stored locally (e.g., in storage 138), and data for useby the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from anout-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitableapproach). Control circuitry 128 may retrieve instructions for theapplication from storage 138 and process the instructions to perform thefunctionality described herein. Based on the processed instructions,control circuitry 128 may determine a type of action to perform inresponse to input received from input circuitry 116 or fromcommunication network 114. For example, in response to determining thata disagreement exists, the control circuitry 128 may perform the stepsof process 500 (FIG. 5 ), process 700 (FIG. 7A), and all the steps andprocesses described in all the figures depicted herein.

In client/server-based embodiments, control circuitry 128 may includecommunication circuitry suitable for communicating with an applicationserver (e.g., server 102) or other networks or servers. The instructionsfor carrying out the functionality described herein may be stored on theapplication server. Communication circuitry may include a cable modem,an Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communication with otherequipment, or any other suitable communication circuitry. Suchcommunication may involve the Internet or any other suitablecommunication networks or paths (e.g., communication network 114). Inanother example of a client/server-based application, control circuitry128 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remoteserver (e.g., server 102). For example, the remote server may store theinstructions for the application in a storage device. The remote servermay process the stored instructions using circuitry (e.g., controlcircuitry 128) and/or generate displays. Computing device 118 mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally via display 134. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely (e.g., by server102) while the resulting displays, such as the display windows describedelsewhere herein, are provided locally on computing device 118.Computing device 118 may receive inputs from the user via inputcircuitry 116 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. Alternatively,computing device 118 may receive inputs from the user via inputcircuitry 116 and process and display the received inputs locally, bycontrol circuitry 128 and display 134, respectively.

Server 102 and computing device 118 may transmit and receive content anddata such as media content via communication network 114. For example,server 102 may be a conference provider, and computing device 118 may bea conference or client device configured to allow participants to join aconference, such as the primary conference depicted in FIG. 3 . Controlcircuitry 120, 128 may send and receive commands, requests, and othersuitable data through communication network 114 using transceivercircuitry 160, 162, respectively. Control circuitry 120, 128 maycommunicate directly with each other using transceiver circuits 160,162, respectively, avoiding communication network 114.

It is understood that computing device 118 is not limited to theembodiments and methods shown and described herein. In nonlimitingexamples, computing device 118 may be a conferencing device, a personalcomputer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, apersonal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC mediacenter, a handheld computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone, or any other device,computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the samecapable of suitably displaying and manipulating conference content.

Control circuitry 120 and/or 118 may be based on any suitable processingcircuitry such as processing circuitry 126 and/or 140, respectively. Asreferred to herein, processing circuitry should be understood to meancircuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers,digital signal processors, programmable logic devices,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g.,dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores). Insome embodiments, processing circuitry may be distributed acrossmultiple separate processors, for example, multiple of the same type ofprocessors (e.g., two Intel Core i9 processors) or multiple differentprocessors (e.g., an Intel Core i7 processor and an Intel Core i9processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 120 and/or controlcircuitry 118 are configured to implement a conferencing system, such assystems, or parts thereof, that perform various conferencing processesdescribed and shown in connection with FIGS. 4-11 and/or systemscarrying out the features described and shown relative to FIGS. 1A and1B.

Computing device 118 receives a user input 104 at input circuitry 116.For example, computing device 118 may receive a user input like a userswipe or user touch, as previously discussed. In some embodiments,computing device 118 is a conference device with the capability to allowparticipants to join a conference and provide meeting tools. It isunderstood that computing device 118 is not limited to the embodimentsand methods shown and described herein. In nonlimiting examples,computing device 118 may be a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer,a tablet computer, a handheld computer, a stationary telephone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a smartphone, orany other conferencing equipment, computing equipment, or wirelessdevice, and/or combination of the same.

User input 104 may be received from a user selection-capturing interfacethat is separate from device 118, such as a remote-control device,trackpad or any other suitable user movement sensitive or capturedevices, or as part of device 118, such as a touchscreen of display 134.Transmission of user input 104 to computing device 118 may beaccomplished using a wired connection, such as an audio cable, USBcable, ethernet cable or the like attached to a corresponding input portat a local device, or may be accomplished using a wireless connection,such as Bluetooth, WIFI, WiMAX, GSM, UTMS, CDMA, TDMA, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE,or any other suitable wireless transmission protocol. Input circuitry116 may comprise a physical input port such as a 3.5 mm audio jack, RCAaudio jack, USB port, ethernet port, or any other suitable connectionfor receiving audio over a wired connection, or may comprise a wirelessreceiver configured to receive data via Bluetooth, WIFI, WiMAX, GSM,UTMS, CDMA, TDMA, 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, or other wireless transmissionprotocols.

Processing circuitry 140 may receive input 104 from input circuit 116.Processing circuitry 140 may convert or translate the received userinput 104 that may be in the form of voice input into a microphone,gestures, or movement to digital signals. In some embodiments, inputcircuit 116 performs the translation to digital signals. In someembodiments, processing circuitry 140 (or processing circuitry 126, asthe case may be) carries out disclosed processes and methods. Forexample, processing circuitry 140 or processing circuitry 126 mayperform processes 500 and 700 of FIGS. 5 and 7 , respectively.

FIG. 1B depicts, an exemplary conference call system 170, in accordancewith some embodiments of the disclosure. The system 170 includes server102, as depicted in FIG. 1A, and a communication server 175. Theapplication server 102 and the communication server 175 include computerhardware as depicted in FIG. 1A to enable the storage and processing ofconference related information across communications network 144, whichincludes LAN, WAN, and the Internet. In some embodiments, the server 102and the communication server 175 may be virtual servers that run on thesame computerized device, such as a single processor, a single memory,and a single network interface device.

The communication server 175 may be connected to a human resources (HR)database 177, a scheduling database 179, and a meeting documentsdatabase 181. The HR database 177 may comprise a profile of eachemployee of the company. The profile may include the employee, title,their job description, org chart which depicts all reports, managers andcolleagues of the employee, groups to which the employee is connected,and any equipment, processes, job roles, and/or topics controlled by theemployee for which the employee has decision making authority.

The scheduling database 179 may comprise a plurality of calendars andavailability of systems, equipment, laboratories, and other servicesprovided by the company. The calendar may show real time availabilityfor all services and processes controlled by the company. For example,if an employee needs to schedule the thermal testing lab during the weekof June 15th, the control circuitry through the communication server mayaccess the scheduling database and determine availability of the thermaltesting lab during the June 15^(th) week.

The meeting documents database 181 may include meeting agenda, documentsrelated to the meeting, emails, chats, and other communications relatingto the meeting. The control circuitry through the communication servermay access the meeting documents database 181 to obtain meeting agendaand schedule primary conference and breakout conferences. Thecommunication circuitry may also access emails, chats, and any otherdocuments exchanged prior to the meeting to determine the participantsinvolved in the conference and, based on the information available, mayassociate each participant with a particular topic of the agenda.

While in some embodiments each of the HR database 177, schedulingdatabase 179, and meeting documents database, are comprised by thecommunication server, in other embodiments, that one or all of thedatabases may be comprised by the server 102 or another server apartfrom the server 102, which may be an application server, and thecommunication server 175.

The server 102 may comprise an email interface 185, a schedulinginterface 187, an audio interface 189, and a video interface 191. Theemail interface 185 may be configured to send and receive emailcommunication from participants of the conference session, such as theconference session described in FIG. 3 . The server 102 may furthercomprise a parser 193. The parser 193 may be in communication with theemail interface 185 such that it may receive an email communication froma participant of the conference session. The parser may be configured toextract information from the email received and provide it to thecontrol circuitry of FIG. 1A for processing. For example, the parser 193may extract meeting agenda from the email received and provide it to thecontrol circuitry for creating and managing the primary conferencesession and any breakout conference sessions. The information extractedby the parser 193 may be stored on local storage 195.

The scheduling interface 187 may be configured to receive calendarinvites and other forms of scheduling data. The calendar interface 187may be operable to receive and/or query a third-party calendar databaseto retrieve a calendar event. For example, the calendar interface 187may be configured to interface with a Google™ Calendar applicationprogramming interface (API), a Microsoft Teams™ calendar API, and anOutlook™ calendar API. If a calendar invite is received, the schedulinginterface 187 may provide to the parser 193 the scheduling details andany information comprised by the calendar such that the information canbe passed onto and used by the control circuitry to schedule conferencecall and breakout conferences and create virtual primary and breakoutrooms as needed.

The audio interface 187 may be configured to receive audio instructionsto set up a meeting or speech during a conference session. The audiointerface may pass the speech and audio sounds to the parser such thatthey can be analyzed by the control circuitry and meeting relatedactions can be taken based on the content and context of the speech. Forexample, the control circuitry may analyze the speech using anartificial intelligence (AI) algorithm and determine that twoparticipants in the conference session have a disagreement for a topicof the agenda and a separate breakout conference to discuss theconflicting views on the topic may be appropriate. The audio informationextracted by the parser 193 may be stored on local storage 195.

The video interface 189 may be configured to receive videos and imagesof participants during a conference session. The images and video datamay be parsed by the parser and provided to the control circuitry suchthat meeting related actions can be taken based on the content andcontext of the images and video parsed. For example, the controlcircuitry may analyze the images and video, such as live video, using anartificial intelligence (AI) algorithm and determine that twoparticipants in the conference session have a disagreement for a topicof the agenda and a separate breakout conference to discuss theconflicting views on the topic may be appropriate. The audio informationextracted by the parser 193 may be stored on local storage 195.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conference device, in accordance withsome embodiments of the disclosure. In an embodiment, the conferencingdevice 200, is the same conferencing device 102 of FIG. 1A. Theconferencing device 200 may receive content and data via input/output(I/O) path 202. The I/O path 202 may provide audio content (e.g., speechinput from a participant of the conference call) and data to controlcircuitry 204, which includes processing circuitry 206 and a storage208. The control circuitry 204 may be used to send and receive commands,requests, and other suitable data using the I/O path 202. The I/O path202 may connect the control circuitry 204 (and specifically theprocessing circuitry 206) to one or more communications paths. I/Ofunctions may be provided by one or more of these communications pathsbut are shown as a single path in FIG. 2 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

The control circuitry 204 may be based on any suitable processingcircuitry such as the processing circuitry 206. As referred to herein,processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on oneor more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor).

The creating and managing of primary conference and breakout conferencesessions and related functions and processes as described herein can beat least partially implemented using the control circuitry 204. Theprocesses as described herein may be implemented in or supported by anysuitable software, hardware, or combination thereof. They may also beimplemented on servers, such as server 102 in FIG. 1A, on remoteservers, or across both.

In client-server-based embodiments, the control circuitry 204 mayinclude communications circuitry suitable for communicating with one ormore servers that may at least implement the storing of theall-conference related information, such as meeting agendas, names andprofiles of participants, recording of the primary and breakoutconference sessions, summarized text relating to the conferencesessions, prior meeting transcripts, employee titles, job roles, and orgcharts, closed caption transcripts of all meetings and related functionsand processes as described herein. The instructions for carrying out theabove-mentioned functionality may be stored on the one or more servers.Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integratedservice digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL)modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem forcommunications with other equipment, or any other suitablecommunications circuitry. Such communications may involve the Internetor any other suitable communications networks or paths. In addition,communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peercommunication of conferencing devices, or communication of conferencingdevices in locations remote from each other (described in more detailbelow).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as the storage 208that is part of the control circuitry 204. As referred to herein, thephrase “electronic storage device” or “storage device” should beunderstood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computersoftware, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory,hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compactdisc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D discrecorders, digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personalvideo recorder, or PVR), solid-state devices, quantum storage devices,gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removablestorage devices, and/or any combination of the same. The storage 208 maybe used to store various types of content described herein, such asmeeting agendas, names and profiles of participants, recording of theprimary and breakout conference sessions, summarized text relating tothe conference sessions, prior meeting transcripts, employee titles, jobroles, and org charts, closed caption transcripts, and natural language(NLP), machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routineand other instructions). Cloud-based storage, described in relation toFIG. 1 , may be used to supplement the storage 208 or instead of thestorage 208.

The control circuitry 204 may include audio generating circuitry andtuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, audio generationcircuitry, filters or any other suitable tuning or audio circuits orcombinations of such circuits. The control circuitry 204 may alsoinclude scaler circuitry for upconverting and down converting contentinto the preferred output format of the conferencing device 200. Thecontrol circuitry 204 may also include digital-to-analog convertercircuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for convertingbetween digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitrymay be used by the conferencing device 200 to receive and to display, toplay, or to record content. The circuitry described herein, including,for example, the tuning, audio generating, encoding, decoding,encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may beimplemented using software running on one or more general purpose orspecialized processors. If the storage 208 is provided as a separatedevice from the conferencing device 200, the tuning and encodingcircuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with the storage208.

The user may utter instructions to the control circuitry 204, such asduring a conference call, which are received by the microphone 216. Themicrophone 216 may be any microphone (or microphones) capable ofdetecting human speech. The microphone 216 is connected to theprocessing circuitry 206 to transmit detected voice commands and otherspeech thereto for processing. In some embodiments, voice assistants(e.g., Siri, Alexa, Google Home and similar such voice assistants)receive and process the voice commands and other speech.

The conferencing device 200 may include an interface 210. The interface210 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse,trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input,joystick, or other user input interfaces. A display 212 may be providedas a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of theconferencing device 200. For example, the display 212 may be atouchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, theinterface 210 may be integrated with or combined with the microphone216. When the interface 210 is configured with a screen, such a screenmay be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display(LCD) for a mobile device, active matrix display, cathode ray tubedisplay, light-emitting diode display, organic light-emitting diodedisplay, quantum dot display, or any other suitable equipment fordisplaying visual images. In some embodiments, the interface 210 may beHDTV-capable. In some embodiments, the display 212 may be a 3D display.The speaker (or speakers) 214 may be provided as integrated with otherelements of conferencing device 200 or may be a stand-alone unit. Insome embodiments, the display 212 may be outputted through speaker 214.

The conferencing device 200 of FIG. 2 can be implemented in system 100of FIG. 1A as conferencing device 118, but any other type ofconferencing device suitable for creating and managing primaryconference and virtual conference breakout sessions and relatedfunctions and processes as described herein may be used. For example,conferencing devices such as a laptop, mobile phone, electronic tabletor similar may be used. Conferencing devices may be part of a network ofdevices. Various network configurations of devices may be implementedand are discussed in more detail below.

FIG. 3 is block diagram of an exemplary primary conference call, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. The conference callsession includes a total of 5 participants 310, 315, 317, 320, and 330.In some embodiments the conference call may have a presenter, a leader,or a moderator. In other embodiments there may be a different number orparticipants and the conference call may not have a designated presenteror moderator and it may be a meeting where several participants discussa plurality of topics.

In some embodiments, the conference call session 300 includes apresenter, such as presenter 310. The presenter may lead the meeting andfacilitate the discussion of topics in the agenda 325. The presenter mayuse an electronic device, such as electronic device 321, to manage theconference session 300, to communicate with other participants, andselect conferencing options available for the conference session 300.

As depicted in FIG. 3 , the electronic device 321 may include a graphicuser interface having a display. The system, such as the system depictedin FIGS. 1A, 1B or FIG. 2 , through its control circuitry, may cause thedisplay on the graphic user interface which includes the title andagenda 325 of the meeting. The title and the agenda may be obtained froma plurality of sources. For example, a document containing that meetingtitle and the topics of agenda may have been circulated to theparticipants of the meeting. The title and agenda may also we obtainedthrough a scheduler, calendar, or a meeting invite dot lists the titleand the agenda of the meeting. In some embodiments, the title and agendamay be uttered by one of the participants during the conference call andthe system, by applying natural language processing (NLP) algorithms andartificial intelligence (AI) algorithms may determine the topic andagenda based on analyzing the uttered speech.

The control circuitry may also cause to display on the graphic userinterface, a conferencing option for creating a breakout conference asneeded. The control circuitry, as used herein in refers to controlcircuitry 128 in FIG. 1A and/or control circuitry 204 in FIG. 2 . Forease discussion, control circuitry 204 will be used in the embodimentsbelow, however, both control circuitry 128 in FIG. 1A and/or controlcircuitry 204 in FIG. 2 may be used interchangeably.

In one example, as depicted in block 340, control circuitry may cause todisplay on the graphical user interface, an option to the presenter 310,to generate a breakout room 1 (340) for facilitating conversations ordisagreements relating to a particular topic. As described further inFIG. 4 , the breakout conference may be created automatically when thecontrol circuitry 204 determines, such as through use of AI algorithms,that a particular topic that is part of the agenda 325 requires furtherattention, requires grouping of certain participants for furtherdiscussion, or has conflicting views that may need to be resolved in aseparate breakout conference such that the primary conferencing session300 can proceed without delays. Several categories may be analyzed bythe control circuitry 204 to determine whether a particular topicrequires further discussion, is the basis for a disagreement, or hasconflicting views that require a breakout conference. Some exemplarycategories analyzed to determine if a disagreement exists are depictedin FIG. 6 .

The control circuitry 204 may also cause to display on the graphic userinterface, a list of attendees or conference participants that shoulddiscuss the disagreed upon topic in the breakout room 1. The attendeelist for the breakout room may be generated through a plurality oftechniques and may be based on a variety of factors. For example, an AIalgorithm may detect that two people out of a group of five participantshave a disagreement on a particular topic.

In some embodiments, all the participants may have a graphic userinterface on their electronic device and in other embodiments they maybe dialing into the conference using a phone system that does not have agraphic user interface. The embodiments described herein apply to bothtype of electronic devices.

As depicted, the control circuitry 204 displays the meeting agenda toboth participant 1 and 4 on their electronic device's graphic userinterface. It may also audibly provide the agenda if the participant'sdevice does not include a display. The exemplary agenda displayed on theelectronic devices of the participants may include the topics “Design,”“Testing,” “Marketing,” and “Sales.” The exemplary time for the primaryconference session 300 to cover the listed topics in the agenda may be1-hour.

In the example depicted in FIG. 3 , participant 1 (John) and participant4 (Sally) are discussing thermal testing, which is the second topic onthe agenda. During the conference session 300, John may ask a questionusing his audio input equipment (e.g., headset) or speak into amicrophone of the electronic device. In this example, John spoke andstated that “We will need to do thermal testing in June 15^(th) week.”In response to John's statement relating to thermal testing, Sally mayhave responded using her audio input equipment (e.g., headset) or spokeinto a microphone of her electronic device. In this example, Sally spokeand stated that “Not possible. Testing room is already booked thatweek.” John and Sally's discussion relates to meeting agenda item“Testing” that is listed in the agenda 325.

In some embodiments, the control circuitry 204 may deploy naturallanguage processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms toconvert their speech to text and then analyze the context of theirdiscussion. The AI algorithm may detect that since John and Sally havedifferent views on testing schedules for the week of June 15^(th) and assuch it is better, they discuss scheduling issues in a separate breakoutconference. As such the control circuitry may receive the data from AIalgorithm and automatically set up a break room 1 such that both Johnand Sally can discuss the topic of thermal testing separate from theconference session 300. Moving John and Sally's disagreement to aseparate breakout conference allows other topics on the meeting agendabe covered by the remaining participants.

In some embodiments, the system, through its control circuitry 204, maybe provided access to a plurality of databases and systems of thecompany. In this example, the participants 310, 315, 317, 320, whichinclude John and Sally, work for the company and are having awork-related meeting. Since the system may have access to employeedatabases, such as human resources database, the system may also haveaccess to each employee's title, their job function, and their profile.

In this example, the system may determine that Sally is senior to Johnand holds a higher position in the company. As such, the controlcircuitry 204 may provide an option on the graphical user interface ofSally's electronic device, who is senior to John, to approve a separatebreakout conference such that John and Sally can discuss the thermaltesting topic. Since Sally is at a higher position that John, the systemmay provide the option to approve the creating of the breakoutconference only on Sally's electronic device and not on John'selectronic device. In other embodiments, both John and Sally may beprovided the option to accept breaking out to a separate virtualbreakout conference for discussing thermal testing. In yet anotherembodiment, the system may automatically move John and Sally to breakoutroom 1 without seeking their approval.

The control circuitry 204 may automatically create the breakoutconference at any time during conference session 300. It may also createthe breakout conference prior to the start of the meeting if the AIalgorithm determines that a disagreement or a deeper discussion on atopic is likely to occur. For example, the AI algorithm may predict adisagreement based on prior meetings or may predict a disagreement basedon John and Sally's positions in the company, such as John might be atest engineer who usually needs to test products before launch and Sallymight be the director of the testing lab that overseas all testing andtesting schedules for various products in the company and that the tworoles are usually at conflict with each other.

Although only two participants in this example are presented with arecommendation to move to a breakout conference, the embodiments are notso limited and allow any number of participants in the meeting to moveto a breakout conference. In a scenario where all the participants areinvolved in discussing to particular topic or involved in a disagreementrelating to a particular topic, then a separate breakout room is notcreated.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram for an exemplary breakout conference, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. The breakout room 1(410), where the breakout conference is held, is a virtual room that isautomatically created by the control circuitry 204. The breakout room 1(410) includes John 315 and Sally 320, the two participants from theprimary conferencing session 300 that had a disagreement relating to thetopic of thermal testing.

In this embodiment, based on the total time allocated for the primaryconferencing session 300, the control circuitry 204 determines the timeallocated for discussing the topic (thermal testing) and sets a timer inthe breakout room 1 such that the participants of the breakout room 1are aware of the amount of time they have been allotted to discuss thetopic and then return to the primary conference 300. In someembodiments, the amount of time allotted in the agenda 325 fordiscussing this topic is 20 minutes. As such, the control circuitry 204may cause a timer to be displayed in the virtual breakout room 1 showingthe amount of time remaining within the allotted 20 minutes to finishdiscussion of the topic. As depicted, from the 20 minutes allotted fordiscussing this topic, 11:14 remains.

The control circuitry 204 may provide additional communication andmanagement tools 30 and 440 to the attendees in the breakout room 1 asdepicted in pop up block 420. For example, the attendees in breakoutroom 1 may be able to monitor and track the progress of the primaryconference 300 as depicted in block 430. The control circuitry 204 mayprovide a selectable option to the attendees 315 and 320 to accept thetracking of the primary conference call or ignore the tracking of theprimary conference call. If accepted, the attendees while in a separatebreakout room 1 may be able to track the progress of topics in theprimary conference session 300. In addition to tracking progress of themain/primary conference call, tracking may include a summary of topicsdiscussed while the breakout conference in breakout room 1 is inprogress.

The control circuitry 204 may also allow the attendees of breakout room1 (410) to communicate and send a message through a communication tool440 to the primary conference attendees in primary conference session300. For example, if the AI detects a question in the primary conferencesession 300 that relates to either John, Sally, or the topic of thermaltesting, the control circuitry 204 may present the question as a pop-updisplay in breakout room 1 and allow the attendees of breakout room 1 torespond to the question. The attendees of breakout room 1 may also sendother types of communications and messages to the attendees of theprimary conference session 300, such as keeping them informed of theprogress being made in breakout room 1 (410), or that they need extratime to finish discussing the topic. The communication tool may allowback and forth messaging between the two separate sessions, i.e., theprimary conferencing session 300 and the breakout conference session410, without the attendees having to leave their respective sessions tocommunicate or answer a quick question.

The control circuitry 204 may audibly alert the participants of thebreakout room 1 (410) when the breakout conference is about to end orhas ended. The control circuitry 204 may automatically switch theattendees of the breakout conference back into the primary conferencingsession 300 once the timer has expired. As such transitioning from theprimary/main conferencing section 300 to the breakout room 1 (410) andthen back to the primary conferencing session 300 once the breakoutconference has ended is performed seamlessly by the control circuitry204 without the attendees having to perform steps to create the separatevirtual breakout room or having to perform actions to rejoin the primaryconferencing section 300. At most, in some embodiments, the controlcircuitry 204 may present options to the attendees to either approve orreject the creation of the breakout room and the movement from onesession to the other. Additionally, the control circuitry 204 may alsoallow the participants to add or delete additional participants to thebreakout conference on an as needed basis.

FIG. 5 is flowchart of a process for generating a breakout conferencefor a primary conference, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure. The process 500 includes, at block 510, capturing aplurality of voice signals during a primary conference call, such as theprimary conference call in FIG. 3 . In another embodiment, the processmay also capture video, images, gestures, chat comments, and other bodylanguage and behaviors of the participant, or group of participants,using cameras associated with, or connected to, the conferencingequipment and/or the electronic device used during the conference.

At block 520, the control circuitry 204, using NLP and/or AI algorithms,may analyze the captured voice signals from each participant. In anotherembodiment a closed caption file may be created based on the voiceinput, i.e., uttered words, phrases, and statements, from eachparticipant. The AI algorithm may analyze the voice signals or theclosed caption file to determine whether a disagreement exists. Forexample, the AI algorithm may determine if any negative comments wereuttered between participants during the conference that indicate adisagreement. The AI algorithm may also look at other categories, suchas categories described in connection with FIG. 6 , to determine if adisagreement exists with respect to a particular topic or if the topicneeds additional discussion, and if so, whether a separate breakoutconference may be created.

If at block 540 a determination is made that a disagreement exists, orthat a particular topic needs additional discussion, then the processproceeds to block 550 where the AI algorithm determines the topic of thedisagreement. For example, as depicted in FIG. 3 , John and Sallydisagree on a schedule for thermal testing, as such, the AI algorithmwould determine that the topic of thermal testing needs resolution andboth John and Sally currently have conflicting views for the testingschedule.

At block 560, the AI algorithm determines the participants that areinvolved in the disagreement. In some embodiments there may be twoparticipants that disagree with each other on a particular topic. Inother embodiments, there may be a few participants that agree on adirection for the topic and a few participants that have a differentdirection for the topic. The system may also group participants thatagree into a separate breakout session such that they may discuss thetopic in further details such that they can present more convincingpoint to those participants that disagree with their position.

In addition to determining the participants for the breakout conference,the control circuitry 204 may also assign a leader for the breakoutconference. In some embodiments, the system may be provided access to aplurality of databases and systems that are associated with theparticipants in the primary conference session 300. For example, in acorporate setting, the system may be provided access to human resourcesdatabases, databases that store information relating to meetings, andinformation relating to employee titles, job descriptions, and orgcharts. The control circuitry 204 may access relevant databases todetermine each participant's title, role, and job description, and usesuch information to determine the leader for each breakout conference.Accordingly, the control circuitry 204 may pick the person with the mostseniority, or the highest title, or authority over a topic, to lead thebreakout conference. In another embodiment the system may determine thata participant who is not the most senior person but the mostknowledgeable person on a particular topic to be the leader.

The control circuitry 204 at block 570 may automatically create one ormore virtual breakout rooms where a virtual breakout conference can behld. It may also determine participants connected with the disagreementthat need to move to the virtual breakout conference to resolve theirdisagreement. In a scenario where 3 participants agree on a firstdirection for the topic and a 4^(th) participant disagrees with thefirst direction and proposes a second direction for the topic, thecontrol circuitry 204 may decide to create a virtual breakout conferenceroom for the 3 participants that agree on the first direction such thatthey may further discuss the first direction and present a full solutionto convince the 4th person. In another embodiment may create a virtualbreakout room such that all four participants may discuss the topic andresolve their concerns.

Once a breakout conference is created, which may be in real time, thesystem through its control circuitry 204 may provide a selectable optionon the graphic user interface of the participants that are going todiscuss the topic in the breakout conference. The selectable option mayallow the participants to either approve the breakout conference orreject the option to create a separate breakout conference fordiscussion of the topic. In some embodiments, the system may provide theselectable option only to the most senior person that will be leadingthe breakout conference. In another embodiment the selectable option maybe provided to all the participants that will be involved in thebreakout conference. In yet another embodiment, the system mayautomatically move the participants to the breakout conference withoutseeking their approval.

At block 580, the system may provide meeting tools to the participantsin the virtual breakout conference. In some embodiment, one of the toolsprovided in the breakout conference may be a breakout conference timer.Since the control circuitry 204 may have access to the agenda 325, thecontrol circuitry 204 may determine the amount of time allocated foreach topic in the agenda. For example, if a particular topic has 20minutes allocated to it, then the control circuitry 204 may start at20-minute timer and display it on all participants electronic devicessuch that they can keep track of time while discussing the topic in thebreakout conference. In another embodiment, if a time has not beenallocated for the topic of the breakout conference, then the controlcircuitry 204, using an AI algorithm, may determine a time for thebreakout conference based on the discussion of the topic in previousmeetings or in the primary conference. In yet another embodiment, thecontrol circuit may allocate a time for the breakout conference andallow the participants to modify the allocated time as needed.

In some embodiments, another meeting tool provided in the breakoutconference may be the option to track the progress of the primary/mainconference 300 while the participants are in the breakout conference.The tracking may allow the participants to keep track of the progressbeing made in the primary conference section 300. For example, if in theprimary conference session, the discussion has moved to the next topic,then the participants in the breakout room may use that information toperform necessary actions, such as end the breakout conference early sothey can get back to the primary conference or ask for additional timeto discuss the topic in the breakout conference.

Yet another meeting tool provided by the control circuitry 204 may bethe ability to communicate with the participants in the main/primaryconference session 300. The participants may use the communication toolto provide an update of the breakout conference, answer any questionsthat may come up in the primary conference section 300, or provide anyother communications to participants of the primary conference session300. As such, the communication tool may allow back and forthcommunication between the primary conference session 300 and a breakoutconference without the participants having to leave their respectivesessions.

At block 590, the system may automatically move the participants fromthe breakout room to the primary conference session 300. The system mayperform the move when the timer ends or when a participant in thebreakout conference ends the breakout conference. In another embodiment,the system may provide a selectable option to the participants of thebreakout conference to approve the move to the primary conferencesession 300, and, upon receiving an approval through the selectableoption, move the participants to the primary conference without theparticipants having to perform any additional actions for executing themove.

FIG. 6 is block diagram of categories for determining a disagreement, inaccordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. The controlcircuitry 204 may analyze one or more categories depicted in FIG. 6 ,such as by using an AI algorithm, to determine if a disagreement betweenparticipants exists. If a determination is made by the control circuitry204 that a disagreement exists, then the control circuitry 204, by usingthe AI algorithm, may determine the topic of the disagreement and theparticipants involved in the disagreement such that it may automaticallycreate a virtual breakout conference and move the participants involvedin the disagreement to the breakout conference.

As depicted in block 610, negations are one of the exemplary categoriesthat may be analyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as by using anAI algorithm, to determine if a disagreement exists with respect to aparticular topic or if the topic needs additional discussion, and if so,whether a separate breakout conference may be created. As used herein,negations include disagreements, different opinions, comments thatcounter and provide an opposing or a different view of the priorstatements, or words that express frustrations.

In this example, an NLP algorithm may convert the speech/voice input ofeach participant into a textual format such that may be analyzed usingan AI algorithm. The AI algorithm may use process 700 of FIG. 7A todetermine if there is a disagreement between two participants of theconference session.

In some embodiments, the process 700 may begin at block 710, where theAI algorithm monitors voice input by all participants in the primaryconference session. At block 710, a first statement made by a firstparticipant is analyzed. The analysis includes determining the contextand the topic of the statement. The analysis also determines whether thestatement requires a response from another participant.

At block 720, the AI algorithm is used by the control circuitry 204 toanalyze statements made by a second participant of the conference call.The analysis includes determining the context and the topic of thestatement. The AI algorithm may analyze words, phrases, and context ofboth statements from the first and second participants to determine ifthe statements relate to each other and if the second statement negatesthe first statement. The AI algorithm may be used to determine if aword, phrase, or comment is a negation or a different point of view. Thecontrol circuitry may access dictionaries and other resources that canaid the AI algorithm in determining if the response negates the earlierstatement. Negations may include words and phrases such as, “no,” “not,”“does not work,” “cannot,” and other variations that disagree with thestatements made by the first participant. In other embodiments, the AIalgorithm may be used to determine the context of the comment made bythe second participant to determine if it negates or provides adifferent opinion on the topic of the statement made by the firstparticipant. For example, the second participant may utter phrases suchas “that could work, but a better way of doing that is,” or “maybe weshould try,” “we tried that last time,” which may need to be analyzedbased on the context of the discussion to determine whether thestatements negate the prior statement thereby creating a disagreement.

At block 730, the AI algorithm is used by the control circuitry 204 todetermine if the number of negations or counter statements meet athreshold number. The threshold may be a predetermined number that isdetermined by the system or the user and may be used to ensure that thenegations in fact create a disagreement and is not simply another viewor comment that does not rise to the degree of a disagreement that needsa separate breakout conference to be resolved. Since not all negationsin a conversation rise to the level of a disagreement, the controlcircuitry may explore the negations in light of the context and alsoanalyze the degree of the negation, such as a strong disagreement or aminor negation or comment that does not create a disagreement, toexplore breakout conference creating options.

One example of applying natural language processing and artificialintelligence (AI) at blocks 720 and 730 is provided in FIG. 7B. In thisexample each voice input from a participant is provided to an NLP enginethat has instructions stored therein, or in a separate database, to runa natural language processing (NLP) algorithm. As depicted in FIG. 7B,the NLP algorithm uses various speech processing techniques to convertthe voice input into text and, determine relevance of each word, andselect keywords that are indicative of the context of the voice input.In some embodiments the NLP algorithm (or the artificial intelligencealgorithm) can determine the most relevant portions of the voice input,such as relevant text, text strings, tags, timing of the words, andrelationship to the topic in the meeting agenda. For example, in astatement “what is the temperature used for the test,” the NLP algorithmmay select key words “temperature” and “test” that is representative ofthe context of the voice input and feed them to the artificialintelligence engine that runs an AI algorithm.

The AI algorithm may then contextually make sense of the statement, suchas by using off the shelf speech analysis software, and relate eachkeyword or voice input to a topic of the meeting agenda. In anotherexample in FIG. 7B, the AI engine, executing instructions to apply an AIalgorithm, may contextually relate one voice input with another voiceinput. For example, it may relate the voice input “its 400 degrees F.”to be contextually related and associate as a response to an earliervoice input “what is the temperature used for the test.” Likewise, theAI algorithm may detect that voice input “That will not work” is anegation and is contextually related to a prior voice input “We need todo the test next week.” The AI algorithm may also use externalresources, such as a library database that can be used by the AIalgorithm to make word associations and determine whether a word orphrase is associated with a disagreement or negation. The AI algorithmmay also use off the shelf speech processing and other tools todetermine if a word/phrase can be considered as a negation ordisagreement.

Referring back to FIG. 7A, if a determination is made at block 730, thatthe number of negations or counter statements meet the threshold number,then at block 740 the control circuitry 204 automatically creates avirtual breakout conference to resolve the disagreement. In anotherembodiment, when the number of negations or counter statements does notmeet the threshold number, however the control circuitry 204, throughthe use of AI algorithm, determines that the negation is strong enough,has a diametrically opposite view, or is stated in a manner that createsa disagreement, then the control circuitry may conclude that adisagreement exists and create the separate breakout conference.

Additionally, at block 730, if the number of negations or counterstatements do not meet a threshold number, and the negation is notstrong enough to rise to the level of a conflict, then the controlcircuitry 204 continues to monitor the conversations in the primaryconference 300 and evaluate each statement in response to the statementand follow the process from block 710 onwards.

At block 750, once a decision has been made to create a breakoutconference, then the control circuitry 204, which has access to aplurality of systems or databases, determines the leader for thebreakout conference based on the employee profiles or other informationthat indicates which of the participants for the breakout session issenior to others or has the responsibility of the topic.

Referring back to FIG. 6 , as depicted in block 615, “Questionsasked/Comments made” is one of the exemplary categories that may beanalyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as by using an AI algorithm,to determine if a disagreement exists with respect to a particular topicor if the topic needs additional discussion, and if so, whether aseparate breakout conference may be created. There may be questionsasked during the primary conference or comments made such as “we shouldtake that offline,” or “that is going to need some more time,” “let'stable that discussion for next time,” “we need to get Bob on the call toanswer that question,” that are not necessarily negations ordisagreements but may require either additional time for discussion ofthe topic or require additional participants that may not be part of theprimary conference. The control circuitry 204, using AI algorithm, maydetermine that such discussions that need additional time or additionalparticipants can be broken out from the current primary conferencesession such that they may be discussed separately. In such situations,the control circuitry 204 may present a selectable option to theattendees, where the selectable options may allow the control circuitry204 to create a breakout conference either during the primary conferencecall or schedule it at a later time. If the breakout session is to becreated during the conference time and requires additional participants,the control circuitry 204 may present a selectable option to the currentparticipants such that if selected, the control circuitry 204 may inreal time contact the other participants that are not part of thecurrent meeting and ask them to join the breakout conference.Accordingly, the control circuitry 204 may automatically set up abreakout conference and move those participants that are involved indiscussing the topic, and seamlessly integrate additional participantsthat are needed for the breakout conference but were not part of theprimary conference session into the breakout conference. The controlcircuitry may also provide limited access to the additional participantsadded such that they are provided access only to the breakoutconference.

As depicted in block 620, decibel levels of the participants may bemonitored and analyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as by using anAI algorithm, to determine if a disagreement exists with respect to aparticular topic or if the topic needs additional discussion, and if so,whether a separate breakout conference may be created. In someembodiments, the control circuitry 204 monitors the decibel levelsduring the primary conference session and calculates an average decibellevel. In a typical conversation, when there's a conflict, disagreement,or a heated argument the volume of the participant's speech may increaseto a higher decibel level. As such, if the decibel level exceeds theaverage decibel level by a threshold amount during the conference call,then a determination is made whether the higher decibel level isassociated with a disagreement or a heated discussion. If the controlcircuitry 204 determines that the higher decibel level is associatedwith a disagreement, then a separate virtual breakout room isautomatically created and either a recommendation is provided to theattendees involved in the disagreement to move to the breakoutconference or the system may automatically move them to the breakoutroom without seeking their approval.

For example, FIGS. 8A and 8B depict a situation when a higher decibellevel may be captured and associated with a disagreement. As shown inFIG. 8A, a plurality of participants P1-P6 may be attending a primaryconference session. The control circuitry 204 may monitor eachparticipant's speech and associated decibel level and calculate anaverage decibel level for the conferencing session. As shown, a voicesignal 810 is captured for participant P1, a voice signal 820 iscaptured for participant P2, a voice signal 830 is captured for aparticipant P4, and a voice signal 840 is captured for participant P6.As depicted, participants P3 and P5 may not have spoken during theconference and as such no voice signal has been captured.

FIG. 8B is a table that depicts a time at which each voice signal wascaptured, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. Asdepicted, participant P1 may have spoken at time t=1 and in response totheir speech, the control circuitry 204 may have captured the voicesignal 820 and determined a decibel level associated with the voicesignal. If decibel level associated with participant P1's voice signal810 is taken as an average decibel level for the conversation, then, insome exemplary embodiments, as depicted by voice signal 820, participantP2 has a higher decibel level associated with their voice signal ascompared to the average decibel level. If P2's decibel level exceeds theaverage decibel level by a threshold number, then the control circuitry204 may determine that P2's decibel level is associated with adisagreement and the control circuitry 204 may automatically create aseparate virtual breakout conference. The control circuitry may alsoinclude participant P2 and anyone else from the primary conferencesession that is also involved with the same topic for which P2's decibellevel was raised to the breakout conference.

As depicted in block 625, overlapping voice signals of the participantsspeaking over each other are analyzed by the control circuitry 204, suchas by using an AI algorithm, to determine if a disagreement exists withrespect to a particular topic or if the topic needs additionaldiscussion, and if so, whether a separate breakout conference may becreated. When a conflict, disagreement, or a heated argument takes placein a conversation, it is typical for participants to speak over eachother to get their point across. As such, if the control circuitry 204determines that multiple voice signals overlap each other, then adetermination is made whether the overlapping voice signals areassociated with a disagreement or a heated discussion. For example, asshown in FIG. 8B, which is a table of voice signals captured for each ofthe participants P1-P6 in FIG. 8A, at time t=2, participants P2 and P4have overlapping voice signals 860. If the control circuitry 204determines that the overlapping voice signal 860 is associated with adisagreement, then a separate virtual breakout room is automaticallycreated and either a recommendation is presented to the attendeesinvolved in the disagreement to approve a move to the breakoutconference or the system may automatically move them to the breakoutconference without seeking their approval.

As depicted in block 630, facial expressions of the participants may beanalyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as by using an AI algorithm,to determine if facial expressions made during the discussion of aparticular topic are indicative of a conflict, frustration,disagreements and may require a separate breakout conference forresolution. In some embodiments, the control circuitry 204 may access acamera associated with either the conferencing equipment or theelectronic device used by a participant during the conferencing session.For example, the participant may be using a laptop that includes acamera, or the participant may be in a conference room which has aseparate camera that is associated with the conferencing equipment, orthe participant may be using a mobile phone or a tablet that includes acamera. As depicted in FIG. 8A, the control circuitry 204, accessing acamera, make capture an image of participant P3. Using the AI algorithm,that control circuitry 204 may analyze the image and determine that P3is frustrated with the current discussion in the primary conference. Thecontrol circuitry 204 made determine the topic of discussion at the timethe image of P3 is captured and determine that a separate breakoutconference is needed due to P3's frustration with the topic. If thecontrol circuitry 204 determines that the facial expressions of P3 areassociated with a disagreement, then a separate virtual breakout roommay be automatically created and P3 and at least one more participantwho is involved in the discussion of the same topic may be invited tomove to the separate virtual breakout room to further discuss the topicor the system may automatically move them to the breakout conferencewithout seeking their approval.

In addition to facial expressions, the camera may also capture aparticipant's body language, as depicted in block 635. If the controlcircuitry 204 determines that a participant's body language isindicative of their disagreement of the current conversation, then thecontrol circuitry 204 may determine the topic of the currentconversation, and automatically create a separate breakout conferencesuch that participants involved in the topic and those whose bodylanguage implies a disagreement are either invited or automaticallymoved to the breakout conference without seeking their approval.

As depicted in block 640, repetitive language uttered by a participantmay be analyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as by using an AIalgorithm, to determine if the repetitive language may be associatedwith a disagreement or conflict and uttered repeatedly to get theirpoint across and convince the other participant involved in thediscussion.

In a typical conversation, when someone's point is not being understoodor accepted, the participant may utter the same or similar wordsrepeatedly to convince the participants that disagree with them. In someembodiments, the participant may utter the same words and phrasesrepeatedly and in other embodiments the participant may utter otherwords and phrases that contextually convey the same point in an attemptto convey their position to others that disagree with their position. Ifthe control circuitry 204 determines that a participant's repeated wordsor repeated language contextually conveys the same point, then thecontrol circuitry 204 may determine whether the repetition is associatedwith a disagreement. Since not every repetition is associated with thedisagreement, the AI will determine if the repetition is associatedcontextually with a disagreement. If a determination is made by thecontrol circuitry 204 that a disagreement exists, then the controlcircuitry 204 may automatically create a separate virtual breakoutconference and either a recommendation is presented to the attendeesinvolved in the disagreement to approve a move to the breakoutconference or the system may automatically move them to the breakoutconference without seeking their approval.

As depicted in block 645, a closed caption of the speech uttered by theplurality of participants may be generated by the control circuitry 204.A natural language processing (NLP) algorithm may be utilized by thecontrol circuitry 204 to convert that uttered speech into textualmetadata. The control circuitry 204 may generate a close caption file instorage in a database associated with the control circuitry 204. Theclosed caption file may be analyzed using the AI algorithm to determineif a disagreement between two or more participants exists. If adetermination is made by the control circuitry 204 based on the analysisof the closed caption file that a disagreement exists, then the controlcircuitry 204 may automatically create a virtual breakout conference fordiscussion of the topic related to the disagreement and either present arecommendation to the attendees involved in the disagreement to approvea move to the breakout conference or the system may automatically movethem to the breakout conference without seeking their approval.

As depicted in block 650, an overall sentiment may be analyzed bycalculating a conflict/disagreement score for the primary conference.The sentiment may be analyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as byusing an AI algorithm, to determine if the sentiment value with respectto a topic is positive or negative. If the sentiment is negative, athreshold may be established and if the threshold value is met then aseparate breakout conference may be generated by the control circuitry204 for discussing the topic relating to the sentiment.

As depicted in FIG. 9 , in some embodiments, the control circuitry 204,using the AI algorithm, may perform a sentiment analysis. In someembodiments, as part of the sentiment analysis, the control circuitry204 may analyze each statement made by a participant of the conferencesession with respect to a particular topic. The AI algorithm may analyzethe statement to determine whether it is a positive or a negativestatement, i.e., whether a participant agrees or disagrees with theposition taken with respect to a topic. The control circuitry 204 maymonitor a sentiment value for each topic separately. A positivestatement which agrees with the prior statement may be scored positivelyas a +1 and a negative statement scored as a −1. A counter may keeptrack of the positive and negative statements and update the overallscore.

As depicted in FIG. 9 , the exemplary topic of the conversation in theconference session relates to pricing the product at $50 USD. Thestatement made by participant P1 is analyzed by the AI algorithm andscored. In this example, since participant P1's statements agree withthe pricing, a conflict score of +1 is recorded. Likewise participant P2statements are also analyzed by the AI algorithm. As depicted,participant P2 disagrees with the concept of pricing the product at $50USD, as such, a conflict score of −1 is given based on P2 statements.The control circuitry 204 keeps her running score of the sentiment as.Since P2's disagreement cancels out P1's agreement, the total sentimentscore after P2's disagreement is 0. In addition to statements, controlcircuitry 204 may also analyze facial expressions and body language whenperforming a sentiment analysis. Since P3's body language suggests thatP3 is frustrated with the pricing, the AI algorithm may analyze P3'sbody language in context with the conversation and determine whetherP3's body language should be associated with an agreement or adisagreement with respect to the $50 USD target price for the product.As depicted, P3's body language is associated with a disagreement andask such given a −1 conflict score. The control circuitry 204 may alsoset a predetermined threshold for a negative sentiment value. When thetotal sentiment value reaches the negative threshold, then a separatebreakout conference may be generated by the control circuitry 204 fordiscussing the topic relating to the sentiment.

Referring back to FIG. 6 , as depicted in block 660, the participant'sjob description and role in the company may be analyzed by the controlcircuitry 204, such as by using an AI algorithm, to determine if thedifferent job descriptions and roles of participants in the conferencesession may create a potential disagreement. For example, if one of theparticipants of the conference session is in marketing and their jobtitle and duties relate to ensuring that the product gets released tothe public quickly and another participant of the conference session isin product testing and their job title and role lends to making sure theproduct is not released until it is thoroughly tested, then the AIalgorithm may determine that the two participants may be at odds withrespect to a topic of product release, the speed at which the product isreleased, and product release schedule. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the control circuitry may analyze the job title and jobrole of the participants using the AI algorithm prior to the start ofthe meeting. Based on a likelihood of a conflicting topic, the controlcircuitry may automatically create a virtual breakout conference priorto the start of the primary conference and provide an option to certainparticipants when a conflicting topic is raised in the primaryconference session.

As depicted in block 665, transcripts from previous meetings may beanalyzed by the control circuitry 204, such as by using an AI algorithm,to determine if any topics discussed in the previous meetings resultedin a disagreement. As such, if the same topic that created adisagreement in the previous meeting is brought up in the currentconference session, then the control circuitry 204 may automaticallycreate a separate virtual breakout conference such that the topic thatraised the disagreement previously can be discussed in the separatebreakout conference.

As depicted in block 670, documents and communications exchange prior tothe conferencing session, such as agenda, emails, chats, Slack™messages, and any other messages may be analyzed by the controlcircuitry 204, such as by using an AI algorithm, to determine if thedocuments and communications indicate conflicting views from theparticipants that will be attending the conference session, and if so,then a separate virtual breakout room is automatically created andeither a recommendation is presented to the attendees involved in thedisagreement or the potential disagreement to approve a move to thebreakout conference or the system may automatically move them to thebreakout conference without seeking their approval. (Slack is atrademark owned by Slack Technologies, Inc.).

In some embodiments, the control circuitry 204 may be given access tocalendars, emails, schedules, databases, and other platforms ofcommunications used in a company. The control circuitry 204 may accessdocuments and messages exchanged using the platforms and use the AIalgorithm to analyze the context of such documents and communications.Based on the analysis, the control circuitry 204 may determine thatcertain participants that exchanged conflicting views in theircommunications regarding a topic prior to the meeting are likely to havethe same disagreement during the conferencing session. As such, thecontrol circuitry may automatically create a separate virtual breakoutroom for the participants that had conflicting positions such that thetopic that raised the disagreement in the documents and communicationscan be discussed in the separate breakout room. The control circuitrymay then either provide a recommendation to the attendees involved inthe disagreement or potential disagreement to approve a move to thebreakout conference or the system may automatically move them to thebreakout conference without seeking their approval.

In addition to the categories describe in FIG. 6 , there may be otherexternal factors 675 that may indicate the presence of a disagreementbetween participants of the primary conference. For example, if aparticular topic needs additional information for making a decision, thecontrol circuitry may create a separate breakout conference/session suchthat the information needed can be obtained and discussed.

FIG. 10 is block diagram for a primary and multiple breakout conferencesessions, in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure. In someembodiments, the control circuitry may create multiple virtual breakoutrooms 1020 and 1030 that are breakout conferences to discuss separatetopics related to the primary conference 1000.

In some embodiments, the breakout room 1 may be created by the controlcircuitry 204. The primary conference may have an agenda that includes aplurality of topics. If a disagreement is detected by the controlcircuitry 204, then the control circuitry, through use of NLP and AIalgorithms, may determine the topic of disagreement, determine attendeesinvolved in the disagreement, and automatically create breakout room 1(1020). In other embodiments, if there is any other indication besides adisagreement that a particular topic needs additional discussion, thenthe control circuitry may automatically create breakout room 1 (1020).

The control circuitry may also determine time allocated for each topicin the agenda of the primary conference 1000. When a time is notallocated for each topic, the control circuitry 204, through use of AIand machine learning algorithms, may allocate a time for the breakoutconference based on time allocations for same/similar topics in previousmeetings or between different topics discussed by the same participantsat previous meetings. The time allocated for the breakout conference,for example, may be 10, 20, or 30 minutes. In this example, the timeallocated for the primary conference session is 1 hour and the timeallocated for breakout room 1 (1020) is 20 minutes.

Each breakout room may include a plurality of meeting management andcommunication tools. These meeting management and communication tools1100 are discussed further in FIG. 11 . In some embodiments, the meetingmanagement tool for the breakout room 1 (1020) includes a timer thatinforms the attendees of the breakout conference of the total timeallocated for the breakout conference and the time remaining to completediscussion of the topic in the breakout conference. The controlcircuitry 204 may also provide alerts at certain intervals within thetime allotted for the break session, such as every 5 or 10 minutes, 2minutes before the meeting time will expire, and when the meeting hasended. Other time intervals for alerts are also contemplated and can beadjusted by the control circuitry 204 or by the participants of thebreakout conference. An extension of time option may also be provided tothe participants in the event the breakout conference requiresadditional time for discussing the topic.

At the end of the 20 minutes allocated time for breakout room 1(1020),the participants of the breakout conference may automatically andseamlessly be integrated back into the primary conference. For example,if the breakout conference in breakout room 1 (1020) ends on time, thenthe participants will be integrated back into the primary conference1000 at time marker 30 minutes without having to input any commands thatrelate to moving back to the primary conference.

In some embodiments, the breakout room 2 (1030) may be created by thecontrol circuitry. The topic for the breakout room 2 (1030) may beobtained from the primary conference session 1000 and the controlcircuitry may allocate a time, such as 30 minutes, based on the timeallocated for the topic in the agenda. As explained earlier, if thetopic has not been allocated a certain amount of time, then AI andmachine algorithms may be used by the control circuitry 204 to determineand allocate a time for the topic to be discussed in breakout room 2(1030).

As depicted in FIG. 10 , breakout room 1 was created and started at a10-minute time marker (1010) of the primary conference session andbreakout room 2 was created and started at a 20-minute time marker(1010) of the primary conference session. Although these exemplarystarting times have been depicted, the starting times may vary and be atany time marker during the primary conference. For example, since someof the reasons for creating a breakout conference is to discuss a topicof disagreement or to discuss a topic that needs additional time, thecontrol circuitry 204, through use of AI and NLP algorithms, may start abreakout session at any time during the primary conference when itdetects a disagreement or an indication requiring additional time fordiscussing a topic of the agenda in the primary conference session 1000.

At the end of the 30 minutes allocated time for breakout room 1(1020)the participants of the breakout room may automatically and seamlesslybe integrated back into the primary conference. For example, if thebreakout session in breakout room 1 (1020) ends on time, i.e., at theend of its 30-minute allocated time, then the participants will beintegrated back into the primary conference 1000 at time marker 30minutes. In some embodiments, an option may be presented for theparticipants of the breakout room 2 (1030) to extend the time forbreakout session or allow the automatic movement of the participantsback into the primary conference session 1000.

As depicted, breakout conference 2 (1030) includes multiple trackers1040 and 1050. In some embodiments, tracker 1040 may allow theparticipants of the breakout room 2 (1030) to monitor the progress ofthe primary conference without having to leave breakout room 2 (1030).In some embodiments, tracker 1050 may allow the participants of breakoutroom 2 (1030) to monitor their own progress, i.e., in terms of amount oftime used and remaining, based on the total amount of time allocated forbreakout room 2 (1030).

Additional meeting management and communication tools 1100, as depictedin FIG. 11 , may be provided to participants of breakout room 2 (1050).For example, the participants of breakout room 2 (1050) may allow thecontrol circuitry 204 to automatically and periodically report theprogress of breakout room 2 to the participants of the primaryconference 1000. If the progress reporting of breakout room 2 (1050) isactivated, then, for example, a tracker 1050 may be depicted to theparticipants of the primary conference 1000.

FIG. 11 is an exemplary template of management and communication toolsoffered for selection to participants of either the breakout rooms orthe primary conference, in accordance with some embodiments of thedisclosure.

In some embodiments, the control circuitry may offer for selection, anyone or more of the management tools 1100 to the participants forselection. In response to a selection made by a participant of therespective session, the control circuitry may automatically activate themeeting tool and perform actions related to the selection.

In some embodiments, the control circuitry may provide for selection,the following management and communication tools 1100: record primary orbreakout conference session 1110, summarize primary or breakoutconference 1120, communicate with participants from the primary orbreakout conference 1130, track progress of the primary or breakoutconference 1140, receive alerts from the primary or breakout conference1150, activate timer for the primary or breakout conference 1160, add anew participant to the breakout conference 1170, and send automatedupdates from the breakout conference to the primary conference 1180,where updates may include decisions made in the breakout conference,summary of sub-topics, within the allocated topic, discussed in thebreakout conference, and progress of the breakout conference.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants of eitherthe primary or breakout conference to record 1110 their respectivesessions. In this embodiment, the control circuitry 204 may provide theoption to record the primary conference session such that participantsin the breakout conference do not miss out on any topic or subtopicdiscussed in the primary conference. The control circuitry 204 may storethe recording in a database and provide it for access either during orafter the end of the primary conference.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants of eitherthe primary or breakout conference to summarize 1120 their respectivesessions. In this embodiment, the primary or the breakout conference maybe summarized using a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm. Theparticipants may select the type and level of summarization desired. Forexample, rather than having to read the word-by-word transcript of therecording, the participants may choose to obtain just the bullet pointsof the topics and subtopics discussed. The AI algorithm may accordinglysummarize the transcript based on the level and type of summary optionselected and may use NLP and other tools for performing suchsummarizations.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants of eitherthe primary or breakout conference to communicate 1130 with attendeesfrom the other conferences without having to leave their respectiveconference. In this embodiment, the control circuitry may allow theparticipants of the breakout conference to communicate with theparticipants either in the primary conference session or anotherbreakout conference, such as participants in room 2 (1030) of FIG. 10may participate with primary conference 1000 participants or withbreakout room 1 (1020) participants. Likewise, primary conference 1000attendees or breakout room 1 (1020) make communicate with breakout room2 (1030) participants.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants of eitherthe primary or breakout conference to track progress 1140 of their ownconference as well the other conferences without having to leave theirrespective sessions. As depicted in FIG. 10 , the control circuitry 204may cause a progress tracker 1050 to be depicted to the participants inthe primary conference 1000 if they select to monitor the progress off aparticular breakout room, such as break room 2 (1030). As depicted inFIG. 10 , in one embodiment, the participants of the primary conferenceselected to track breakout room 2 (1030) and not track breaking room 1(1020), and, as such, only the tracker for breakroom 2 is depicted inthe primary conference 1000.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants of eitherthe primary or breakout conference to activate a timer 1150 for theirown conference as well as track a timer for other conference withouthaving to leave their respective sessions. The timer may allowparticipants of one conference to monitor the progress of anotherconference.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants from theprimary conference to receive alerts 1160 from the breakoutconference(s) and allow the participants from the breakout conference toreceive alerts 1160 from the primary conference or from another breakoutconference without having to leave their respective conference. Thecontrol circuitry 204 may be configured to provide an alert from oneconference to another conference, for example if a participant inanother conference mentions a name of the participant that is currentlyin another conference. In this example, the participant whose name ismentioned may be alerted and notified such that they may respond to aquestion, or a comment related to them. Other alerts, such as a mentionof a topic may also be configured such that a participant associatedwith that topic is alerted if the topic is brought up in anotherconference. For example, a participant who is currently in a breakoutconference in breakout room 2 (1030) of FIG. 10 and is responsible forthermal testing may be alerted if either their name or the mention ofthermal testing comes up in either the primary conference 1000 or in thebreakout conference 1020. In such instances, the participant may bealerted and notified of the topic and subtopic being discussed, thecontext in which their name or topic was mentioned, and if there is apending question relating to the participant or the topic therebyallowing the participant to answer a question or post a comment withouthaving to leave their respective conference.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants of eitherthe primary conference or breakout conference to add a participant 1170to their conference without having to separately contact a participantthat was not originally part of the conference. In other embodiments,the meeting tools allow adding a participant from the primary conferenceto the breakout conference who was not originally moved to the breakoutconference.

When adding a participant that was not originally part of either theprimary of breakout conference, the control circuitry 204 mayautomatically contact and add the needed participant to a conferencewhere their input is needed or ask for their approval prior to beingadded.

In some embodiments, the meeting tools allow the participants from theprimary conference to receive automated updates 1180 from the breakoutconference(s) without having to leave the primary conference. Theseupdates may include details related to decisions made, summary ofsubtopics discussed, and the progress of the breakout conference.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the above-mentioned embodiments may be embodied in acomputer program product that includes a computer-usable and/or-readable medium. For example, such a computer-usable medium may consistof a read-only memory device, such as a CD-ROM disk or conventional ROMdevice, or a random-access memory, such as a hard drive device or acomputer diskette, having a computer-readable program code storedthereon. It should also be understood that methods, techniques, andprocesses involved in the present disclosure may be executed usingprocessing circuitry.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and notlimiting. More generally, the above disclosure is meant to be exemplaryand not limiting. Only the claims that follow are meant to set bounds asto what the present invention includes. Furthermore, it should be notedthat the features and limitations described in any one embodiment may beapplied to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examplesrelating to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment ina suitable manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. Inaddition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed inreal time. It should also be noted that the systems and/or methodsdescribed above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, othersystems and/or methods.

1. A method comprising: monitoring voice inputs from a plurality ofparticipants that are joined into a primary conference through theirrespective client devices; identifying a disagreement between a firstand a second participant, from the plurality of participants, based on afirst voice input from the first participant and a second voice inputfrom the second participant; in response to identifying thedisagreement: automatically generating a breakout conference, whereinthe breakout conference is generated without a user input from any oneof the plurality of participants; and automatically connecting the firstand second participant to the breakout conference.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising, automatically connecting a thirdparticipant from the primary conference to the breakout conference,wherein the third participant is associated with a topic of thedisagreement.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: accessing ajob title of the first and the second participant; and designating theparticipant, from the first and second participant, with the senior mostjob title as the leader of the breakout conference.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein the job title is obtained from a human resourcesdatabase.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the disagreementcomprises determining whether the second voice input negates a statementmade through the first voice input.
 6. The method of claim 1, whereinidentifying the disagreement comprises determining whether the secondvoice input overlaps the first voice input.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein identifying the disagreement comprises determining whether afacial expression of the second participant shows a disagreement inresponse to the first voice input from the first participant.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein identifying the disagreement comprisesdetermining whether body language of the second participant shows adisagreement in response to the first voice input from the firstparticipant.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying thedisagreement comprises determining whether a factor selected from agroup consisting of repetitive language, decibel levels, jobdescription, and prior disagreement, indicates a disagreement by thesecond participant in response to the first voice input from the firstparticipant.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying thedisagreement further comprises: accessing a transcript of a priorprimary or breakout conference; determining whether a disagreementoccurred in the prior conference between the first and secondparticipant; and in response to determining that a disagreement occurredin the prior conference: determining that a disagreement is likely tooccur in the primary conference; and automatically connecting the firstand second participant to the breakout conference.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein identifying the disagreement comprises determiningwhether a sentiment score meets a negative sentiment threshold.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein determining the sentiment score comprises:associating each voice input, from plurality of voice inputs associatedwith the plurality of participants, that contextually relates to astatement made by the first voice input with either a positive or anegative sentiment value, wherein a positive sentiment value is apredetermined number associated with a positive utterance of a word orphrase and a negative sentiment value is a predetermined numberassociated with a negative utterance of the word or phrase; andcalculating the sentiment score by aggregating all the positive andnegative sentiment values.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising, in response to determining that the sentiment score meets anegative sentiment threshold, automatically connecting the participantsassociated with the voice inputs that contextually relates to thestatement made by the first voice input to the breakout conference. 14.The method of claim 1, further comprising: tracking progress of breakoutconference; and providing the progress of the breakout conference to theplurality of participants that are joined into the primary conference.15. The method of claim 1, further comprising: tracking progress of theprimary conference; and providing the progress of the primary conferenceto the participants that are joined into the breakout conference. 16.The method of claim 1, further comprising providing communication toolsto the participants of the primary and breakout conference such that theparticipants in each respective conference can communicate withparticipants in the other conference without having to leave theirrespective conference.
 17. A system comprising: communication circuitryconfigured to access a plurality of client devices; and controlcircuitry configured to: monitor voice inputs from a plurality ofparticipants that are joined into a primary conference through theirrespective client devices; identify a disagreement between a first and asecond participant, from the plurality of participants, based on a firstvoice input from the first participant and a second voice input from thesecond participant; in response to identifying the disagreement:automatically generate a breakout conference, wherein the breakoutconference is generated without a user input from any one of theplurality of participants; and automatically connect the first andsecond participant to the breakout conference.
 18. The system of claim17, further comprising, the control circuitry configured toautomatically connect a third participant from the primary conference tothe breakout conference, wherein the third participant is associatedwith a topic of the disagreement.
 19. The system of claim 17, furthercomprising, the control circuitry configured to: access a job title ofthe first and the second participant; and designate the participant,from the first and second participant, with the senior most job title asthe leader of the breakout conference.
 20. The system of claim 17,wherein, the control circuitry is configured to identify thedisagreement comprises determining whether the second voice inputnegates a statement made through the first voice input, whereinidentifying the disagreement comprises determining whether a sentimentscore meets a negative sentiment threshold. 21-27. (canceled)
 28. Thesystem of claim 17, further comprising, the control circuitry configuredto provide communication tools to the participants of the primary andbreakout conference such that the participants in each respectiveconference can communicate with participants in the other conferencewithout having to leave their respective conference.